Halloween Horror Nights 2025 (USH) - Speculation & Rumors

[rageofthegods]

I remember when we were all sick of the same old Titans of Terror mazes.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I'm gonna be honest, as much as it hurts me to say I think it's time us old-timers accept HHN of old will be just that - a fixture of the past.

yeah the same exact thing goes for horror. horror in general. modern movies just aren't as good. they just aren't. and if the movies aren't as good, the houses won't be. besides of the good movies that get denied for hhn. them there's no much left. how many properties were denied,
I'm not just being cynical but it's just not the same. the horror of today is lacking some of the epic feeling of before.

I literally just want good scary movies as mazes, man, give me Freddy for the 15th time at this point. Man I miss old HHN.

I just want Jason Voorhees back. lol.

 

[Rideguy70]

I don't necessarily mind HHN experimenting with non-horror properties. It can bring in new crowds, and expand with something unusual. Stranger Things and TLOU come to mind. Of course, the risks are that it may not pan out, or you may be using properties others won't care about (I, for one, don't care one iota about gaming IPs, and even less for WWE).

But it also seems like a lot of current horror is being ignored. Some, because they wouldn't make a great maze (Hereditary, or must slow burn A24 style "elevated" horror films, as an example). Some, because they probably can't get the rights.

But others still are a mystery. I really can't say why the incredible history of Asian cinema continues to get ignored year after year. And who wouldn't want The Substance as a maze?

I also wonder if Six Flags really throwing it's hat into the IP horror ring (remember, they had Saw, Conjuring, Trick 'r' Treat, and some parks had TCM) is creating some scrambling and re-thinking things at HHN.

 

[saint.piss]

I don't necessarily mind HHN experimenting with non-horror properties. It can bring in new crowds, and expand with something unusual. Stranger Things and TLOU come to mind.

TLOU is horror tho lol. It's a horror survival video game/tv series

 

[Crypt Keeper]

and if the movies aren't as good, the houses won't be.

That isn’t necessarily true.

The Exorcist: Believer
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Halloween 4
Alien vs Predator
Insidious Chapter 3/4/The Red Door

The general consensus for these movies is that they were mediocre to bad. Yet, they made for some great haunted houses.

 

[DTH]

I know what they mean by TLOU. It's like...soft horror. I don't know how to explain it, but it doesn't go hard as a pure horror movie/TV show/game would. It's too interested in the drama.

 

[Lucky Planet]

That isn’t necessarily true.

The Exorcist: Believer
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Halloween 4
Alien vs Predator
Insidious Chapter 3/4/The Red Door

The general consensus for these movies is that they were mediocre to bad. Yet, they made for some great haunted houses.

I get what you mean and those houses can be great, but the hype itself is just isn't there. and universal is already running out of movies to do.
really running out.

and honestly I was thinking more about the blumhouse stuff that has not been great. mostly I was thinking on blumhouse lol.

 

[rageofthegods]

I know what they mean by TLOU. It's like...soft horror. I don't know how to explain it, but it doesn't go hard as a pure horror movie/TV show/game would. It's too interested in the drama.

I get it. It's basically Walking Dead with cooler zombies.

But others still are a mystery. I really can't say why the incredible history of Asian cinema continues to get ignored year after year. And who wouldn't want The Substance as a maze?

I don't work for Uni but I would imagine that a big part of the lack of A-Horror rep is that they've done some kind of market research that shows they lack name recognition. So as much as I'd like an Audition house, it'll probably have to wait until there's a hit movie adaptation.

That having been said, they really should just bite the bullet and do The Ring.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I get it. It's basically Walking Dead with cooler zombies.


I don't work for Uni but I would imagine that a big part of the lack of A-Horror rep is that they've done some kind of market research that shows they lack name recognition. So as much as I'd like an Audition house, it'll probably have to wait until there's a hit movie adaptation.

That having been said, they really should just bite the bullet and do The Ring.

a lot of times the studios might just say no. look at Scream.
or the drama with five nights at Freddy's. maybe an audition house wouldn't work just because of what the studio was asking for.

 

[Freak]

I get it. It's basically Walking Dead with cooler zombies.


I don't work for Uni but I would imagine that a big part of the lack of A-Horror rep is that they've done some kind of market research that shows they lack name recognition. So as much as I'd like an Audition house, it'll probably have to wait until there's a hit movie adaptation.

That having been said, they really should just bite the bullet and do The Ring.

Having the Grudge and the Ring in the same year would go hard. It’s almost been 20 years since KSF did it so HHN should! That would pull people in.

 

[rageofthegods]

I mean I think the bigger problem with doing Audition is that it's a foreign language film that made less money at the US box office than The Substance made in Romania. We'll see if this new remake from the Terrifier guys takes off, I think lining up with that release is its best bet at coming.

Having the Grudge and the Ring in the same year would go hard. It’s almost been 20 years since KSF did it so HHN should! That would pull people in.

I'm down. The Ring is bit tough since there isn't a ton outside of the intro and the TV scene, but The Grudge is loaded with house material.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Orlando had the ring in 2006 as part of a movie house

 

[Jake S]

have we seen much foreign horror represented at horror nights? or even american remakes of foreign horror? genuinely asking what the precedent is for this sort of thing.

 

[chris.g]

Murdy has said in previous Q&A's that the issue with foreign horror isnt how well it would translate into a house, it's marketing. I am paraphrasing, but he did say the question asked was "Who from the public knows what this is? What crowd is going to go out of their way for this horror movie from (X)? Will they even care?". Not sure if that's a knock on Universal's ability to promote something niche, their inability to even try, or their insights telling them it just wouldn't be popular.

 

[Clive]

have we seen much foreign horror represented at horror nights? or even american remakes of foreign horror? genuinely asking what the precedent is for this sort of thing.

We've seen it more at Knott's, ironically, since they did a Grudge tie-in maze as well as their original Shadowlands house that cribbed all sorts of J-horror tropes.

 

[Jake S]

We've seen it more at Knott's, ironically, since they did a Grudge tie-in maze as well as their original Shadowlands house that cribbed all sorts of J-horror tropes.

that’s the only example i could think of and the grudge maze was nearly 20 years ago (death approaches).

 

[rageofthegods]

We've seen it more at Knott's, ironically, since they did a Grudge tie-in maze as well as their original Shadowlands house that cribbed all sorts of J-horror tropes.

In fairness, HHN did do an Asian horror-themed scare zone but it got them in a lot of trouble for featuring a Fu Manchu type.

They're clearly not averse to doing houses based cultures outside of the US - Hollywood's Latin American legend mazes are some of their best work - so I think it's just a matter of no one non-remade non-American movie being big enough to warrant paying a license to do a direct adaptation versus just doing an original house.

 

[Rideguy70]

Murdy has said in previous Q&A's that the issue with foreign horror isnt how well it would translate into a house, it's marketing. I am paraphrasing, but he did say the question asked was "Who from the public knows what this is? What crowd is going to go out of their way for this horror movie from (X)? Will they even care?". Not sure if that's a knock on Universal's ability to promote something niche, their inability to even try, or their insights telling them it just wouldn't be popular.

At this moment, I think even very casual horror fans at least know the image of Sadako, even if they can't place the actual film. Heck, Shudder did an entire hour long special about Asian horror. It's in the public consciousness... at least as much as all the Latin Horror lore that they've used over and over have been.

And the number of people who wear Uzumaki shirts to HHN have always made me feel it's an untapped market. Even someone who doesn't know the specific IP would certainly find a sprial-themed house appealing for a horror event.

I have no Latin-American blood in our family, nor do I really know any of their mythology... but it hasn't stopped me from enjoying those mazes and scarezones. So I don't really buy the argument.

I could buy it for very niche films, like Audition. Horror fans know it, but it's not necessarily in the mainstream knowledge. But if Murdy can pull off Latin foreign horror, IMO there's really no excuse for ignoring Asian foreign horror. I understand they were probably scared off by the unfortunate "Fu Manchu" issue, but if they did their homework and researched to stay culturally accurate as much as they did for all the Latin mazes, there shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Jake S]

i don’t think you can accurately compare the awareness of latin american folklore with pan-asian horror films. spanish is the second-most spoken language in the united states and the third place language isn’t even in the same universe. the influence and awareness of latin american myths widely dwarfs any other non-english language story — whether you’re individually aware of these stories or not.

 

[Clive]

In fairness, HHN did do an Asian horror-themed scare zone but it got them in a lot of trouble for featuring a Fu Manchu type.

They're clearly not averse to doing houses based cultures outside of the US - Hollywood's Latin American legend mazes are some of their best work - so I think it's just a matter of no one non-remade non-American movie being big enough to warrant paying a license to do a direct adaptation versus just doing an original house.

You're right - I completely forgot about Spirits and Demons of the East for a second there, probably in part because Universal would like us to forget about it, too. They did not have the talent pool to cast an all-Asian group for that zone, and it led to (for better or worse) muted and quickly extinguished controversy.

i don’t think you can accurately compare the awareness of latin american folklore with pan-asian horror films. spanish is the second-most spoken language in the united states and the third place language isn’t even in the same universe. the influence and awareness of latin american myths widely dwarfs any other non-english language story — whether you’re individually aware of these stories or not.

This is correct. While much of Universal's attendance mix is international tourists - many of whom hail from various parts of Asia - Horror Nights Hollywood is still primarily a locals event, demographically, and a massive swath of those locals are Latino. I'm sure they've debated whether a J or K horror attraction, original or otherwise, might convert tourists to event attendees, and... well, proof is in the pudding, huh?